Intradehttp://www.businessinsider.com/category/intrade
en-usSun, 02 Aug 2015 14:31:08 -0400Sun, 02 Aug 2015 14:31:08 -0400The latest news on Intrade from Business Insiderhttp://static3.businessinsider.com/assets/images/bilogo-250x36-wide-rev.pngBusiness Insiderhttp://www.businessinsider.com
http://www.businessinsider.com/tradesports-relaunch-2014-4A Co-Founder Of Intrade Is Launching A New Site Today For Fantasy Sportshttp://www.businessinsider.com/tradesports-relaunch-2014-4
Wed, 30 Apr 2014 09:41:33 -0400Julia La Roche
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5360f07becad0435620f942c-941-706/tradesportscom.png" border="0" alt="Tradesports.com" /></p><p>The co-founder of the popular online betting site <a href="http://www.intrade.com/v4/home/">Intrade</a> is re-launching another prediction marketplace in the U.S. called&nbsp;<a href="http://tradesports.com/">Tradesports.com</a>.</p>
<p><span>Intrade was a prediction market where users could make trades on political and world events. It was really popular on Wall Street. Intrade shut down its operations in the U.S. last year&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intrade-shutting-down-2013-3">after being sued by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission</a><span>.</span></p>
<p>Instead of predicting election outcomes like Intrade, the new site will predict sporting events.&nbsp;It's basically fantasy sports meets Wall Street.</p>
<p>The site will&nbsp;let its users play fantasy sports in real-time for real money.&nbsp;In other words, users can make trades in real-time based on how a game is going similar to how they would trade the stock market.&nbsp;</p>
<p>"It's really made for the wheelhouse of these traders who love sports," the company's CEO Ron Bernstein, a former options floor trader, told us.</p>
<p>Bernstein said that it's not a sports betting site. It's "skill-based fantasy sports" on a real-time exchange.</p>
<p>Here's how it works:</p>
<p>Tradesports.com will offer trading contests that have entry fees as low as $2 (There are also free-to-play games for fun, too).&nbsp;Every contestant gets the same stake. They can buy and sell positions in sports teams and players amongst other contestants during the game. Whoever makes the most money at the end of the game wins.</p>
<p>There's also a chatroom for every contest and a leaderboard showing contestants standings.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Tradesports.com is only for U.S. residents. It's available in 40 out of 50 states. (<span>The original European Tradesports.com betting site closed in 2008.)</span></p>
<p>Like the way Intrade was good with predicting political outcomes, Bernstein believes that Tradesports would be a great way to gather data and analysis on sports teams and players.</p>
<p>Tradesports.com is available in the public beta today. They're currently signing folks up for the waitlist.&nbsp;</p>
<p><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5360f41cecad04227a0f942a-1200-546/screen shot 2014-04-30 at 8.44.14 am.png" border="0" alt="Tradesports.com" /></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tradesports-relaunch-2014-4#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/mitt-romney-intrade-bets-trader-millions-2013-9A Single Trader Lost Millions Betting On Mitt Romney On Intrade Late In The 2012 Electionhttp://www.businessinsider.com/mitt-romney-intrade-bets-trader-millions-2013-9
Tue, 24 Sep 2013 08:46:00 -0400Brett LoGiurato
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/5241866eeab8eac90722a39e-480-/mitt-romney-fox-news-sunday-with-chris-wallace-2.png" border="0" alt="Mitt Romney Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace" width="480" /></p><p>A single trader lost between $4 and $7 million placing a flurry of bets on Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Intrade in the final two weeks of last year's election, <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2322420" target="_blank">according to a new research paper</a> studying election betting patterns.</p>
<p>"Trader A," as the research paper dubs the trader, was responsible for about one-third of the money bet on Romney over the last two weeks &mdash; and about one-quarter over the entire cycle on Intrade.</p>
<p>The authors of the paper &mdash; economists&nbsp;Rajiv Sethi,<strong>&nbsp;</strong><span>of&nbsp;Barnard College and Columbia University; and&nbsp;</span>David Rothschild<span>, of Microsoft Research &mdash; speculate that Trader A's intent was to manipulate Romney's position. </span></p>
<p><span>Or, in the final few weeks of the election as Romney fell in polls, they determine that Trader A could have been attempting to manipulate beliefs about his standing to boost fundraising, morale, and turnout.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span>The economists determine three possibilities for the slew of bets:&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="p1" style="padding-left: 30px;">(i) the trader was convinced that Romney was underpriced throughout the period and was expressing a price view, (ii) he was hedging an exposure held elsewhere, or (iii) he was attempting to distort prices in the market for some purpose.</p>
<p><span>Sethi and Rothschild draw no definitive conclusions, but they lean toward option No. 3.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span>Another surprising finding from the study: Trader A aside, political betting seems to be much more static than other trading markets. </span></p>
<p><span>The economists found that 86% of traders never changed once whom they were betting on. That accounted for 52% of the volume of the bench. Only 6% of bettors were determined to be "unbiased" by taking positions on both candidates as the race developed.</span></p>
<p><span>One of the biggest single-night shifts came on the night of the first presidential debate, which was viewed as a gigantic loss for President Barack Obama. Here's a look at how his Intrade price cratered that night:<img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/524188b4eab8eab31322a396-495-335/screen shot 2013-09-24 at 8.40.50 am.png" border="0" alt="Intrade chart" /></span></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mitt-romney-intrade-bets-trader-millions-2013-9#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/intrade-700-thousand-dollar-cash-shortfall-2013-4InTrade Announces $700,000 Cash Shortfall And Risk Of Imminent Liquidationhttp://www.businessinsider.com/intrade-700-thousand-dollar-cash-shortfall-2013-4
Fri, 05 Apr 2013 23:43:00 -0400Joe Weisenthal
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/513d3892ecad04993a000004-334-250/screen shot 2013-03-10 at 9.50.15 pm.png" border="0" alt="intrade" width="334" height="250" /></p><p>Back in early March, "prediction market" InTrade shocked the world by announcing it was halting all trading activity immediately.</p>
<p>InTrade, of course, was famous for offering betting on event outcomes like the US Presidential election (along with other events).</p>
<p>Now the company <a href="http://www.intrade.com/v4/home/">has posted the following message on its site</a>, which says that it has discovered a $700,000 cash shortfall that must be rectified immediately in order to avoid liquidation.</p>
<p>The company also says it knows what happened to the money, and is pursuing legal claims against two parties.</p>
<p>----------------------------------------------------------</p>
<p><em>April 5, 2013</em></p>
<p>We have now concluded the initial stages of our investigations about the financial status of the Company, and it appears that the Company is in a cash &ldquo;shortfall&rdquo; position of approximately US $700,000 when comparing all cash on hand in Company and Member bank accounts with Member account balances on the Exchange system.</p>
<p>If the Company is not able to rectify this cash shortfall position very quickly, the Company will become insolvent and therefore is very likely to go into liquidation.</p>
<p>Since March 10, 2013, the Company has been operating with new funds invested by current shareholders.</p>
<p>We are now very confident about the reasons which caused the current circumstance of the Company; however, for legal reasons we are not yet at liberty to document them to you. I can confirm that the Company, if it is able, intends to vigorously pursue two substantial monetary claims against two distinct parties for an aggregate amount greater than $3,500,000.</p>
<p>Because of these circumstances, the Company has now contacted all members with account balances greater than $1000, and proposed a &ldquo;forbearance&rdquo; arrangement between these members and the Company, which if sufficient members agree, would allow the Company to remain solvent.</p>
<p>The successful recovery in the future of even part of our intended legal claims, ought to allow the Company to provide full restitution to Members. We would also hope at that time, that the Company would be in a position to resume commercial operations. For now, we are in active discussions with current shareholders and possible new investors as we seek further investment in the Company to strengthen our financial position.</p>
<p>Please note that while we will try our very best to ultimately return 100% of Members&rsquo; settled account balances, we can make no promise or assurance that we will be able to do so. It is possible that, even though we gain a sufficient number of Members to agree to provide forbearance to the Company, the Company may go into liquidation in the future.</p>
<p>By Tuesday, April 16, 2013, we expect to be able to inform our members if sufficient forbearance has been achieved. If so, we will then resume limited operations of the Company and we will be able to process requests for withdrawals as agreed. <strong> If sufficient forbearance has not been achieved, it seems extremely likely that the Company will be forced into liquidation. </strong></p>
<p>I am truly grateful for your personal expressions of support and your patience as we try to deal with this unfortunate circumstance. I appreciate the feedback provided, and I intend to exceed your expectations as we try to correct this situation. I hope that you decide to stand by our side in the effort to preserve the Company and in our efforts to pursue the complete restitution of all of your funds.</p>
<p><br /> Sincerely,</p>
<p>Ronald Bernstein<br /> Director, Intrade</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intrade-700-thousand-dollar-cash-shortfall-2013-4#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/intrade-plan-to-give-account-holders-back-their-money-2013-4REPORT: Intrade Set To Offer Frozen Account Holders 50% Of Their Moneyhttp://www.businessinsider.com/intrade-plan-to-give-account-holders-back-their-money-2013-4
Tue, 02 Apr 2013 09:21:00 -0400Matthew Boesler
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/513d3892ecad04993a000004-400-/screen%20shot%202013-03-10%20at%209.50.15%20pm.png" border="0" alt="intrade" width="400" /></p><p><a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/bloomberg">Bloomberg</a>'s Joe Brennan&nbsp;is reporting that Intrade will pitch a "survival plan" to clients that would include a 50 percent payback to those with frozen accounts.</p>
<p>If the online betting website can find a new investment, then it would return all of the customer funds.</p>
<p>According to Brennan's source, less than $2.5 million of customer funds would be at risk under the plan.</p>
<p>In March, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intrade-has-been-shut-down-2013-3">Intrade was shut down</a>&nbsp;following the uncovering of accounting irregularities related to payments to deceased former CEO John Delaney in 2011.</p>
<p>In November, the company was dealt a lawsuit from the CFTC, the U.S. commodities and futures trading regulator.&nbsp;The lawsuit alleged that Intrade had violated rules by allowing customers to trade commodities and soliciting them to buy options.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intrade-plan-to-give-account-holders-back-their-money-2013-4#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/intrade-founder-failed-to-report-millions-2013-3REPORT: InTrade Founder Failed To Report Millions He Got From The Companyhttp://www.businessinsider.com/intrade-founder-failed-to-report-millions-2013-3
Tue, 12 Mar 2013 12:20:00 -0400Rob Wile
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/4ddc0c1f4bd7c85b57140000-400-300/john-delaney.jpg" border="0" alt="John Delaney Intrade" /></p><p>The FT's&nbsp;Arash Massoudi, Gregory Meyer and Jamie Smyth <a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/21c70788-8a73-11e2-bf79-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz2NHGcjfrj">report</a> InTrade founder John Delaney failed to adequately report $2.6 million he received from the company, citing documents the company recently filed.</p>
<p>Yesterday InTrade <a href="http://www.intrade.com/v4/home/">announced</a> it was suspending all operations.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Auditors flagged&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">&ldquo;significant financial irregularities&rdquo; in payments made to Delaney, who died on Mount Everest in 2011, the FT says. </span></p>
<p>The documents also show <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/paul-tudor-jones">Paul Tudor Jones</a> and <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/stanley-druckenmiller">Stanley Druckenmiller</a> were shareholders in the company as late as 2011 &mdash; as was a trust connected to Christopher Hehmeyer, the current chairman of the National Futures Association.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/21c70788-8a73-11e2-bf79-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz2NHGcjfrj"><em>Read the full report on FT.com &gt;</em></a></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intrade-founder-failed-to-report-millions-2013-3#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/tudor-jones-and-druckenmiller-intrade-2013-3REPORT: Two Legendary Hedge Fund Managers Were Both Investors In InTradehttp://www.businessinsider.com/tudor-jones-and-druckenmiller-intrade-2013-3
Mon, 11 Mar 2013 16:11:00 -0400Julia La Roche
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/513d11afeab8ea026c000013-400-300/screen shot 2013-03-10 at 7.04.43 pm.png" border="0" alt="Paul Tudor Jones" /></p><p>This is something we didn't know before about InTrade, the events betting site that announced yesterday that it was shutting down...</p>
<p>Legendary billionaire hedge fund managers <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/paul-tudor-jones">Paul Tudor Jones</a> and Stan Druckenmiller were both investors in Intrade as of 2011, <a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/21c70788-8a73-11e2-bf79-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2NGN71bMZ">the Financial Times reports citing audit documents.</a>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/21c70788-8a73-11e2-bf79-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2NGN71bMZ">From the FT:</a></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">The documents also revealed that the company&rsquo;s shareholders in 2011 included hedge fund managers Paul Tudor Jones and <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/stanley-druckenmiller">Stanley Druckenmiller</a>, and a trust connected to Christopher Hehmeyer, the current chairman of the National Futures Association, a US regulatory body. None of the shareholders could be reached for comment yesterday.</p>
<p>Intrade, a popular Dublin-based internet betting exchange for things like the presidential election to the papal conclave, <a href="http://www.intrade.com/v4/home/">halted its operations and froze customer accounts yesterday</a> after it discovered possible financial irregularities.&nbsp;</p>
<p>It's not clear whether Druckenmiller or Jones remain shareholders.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tudor-jones-and-druckenmiller-intrade-2013-3#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/intrade-halts-trading-2013-3InTrade Was Awesome — Here's What All The Critics Got Wronghttp://www.businessinsider.com/intrade-halts-trading-2013-3
Sun, 10 Mar 2013 22:19:00 -0400Joe Weisenthal
<p>Sunday, Irish betting site <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intrade-shutting-down-2013-3">InTrade announced on its website</a> that all trading was being halted. The language is very ominous. It's unclear if there will ever be trading again.</p>
<p>The site was controversial.</p>
<p>It was popular among pundits and amateur fans of U.S. politics, as it allowed people to place bets on various real-life event outcomes (Would Obama win? Who would be the GOP nominee? Will the Supreme Court uphold Obamacare).</p>
<p>When it came to dealing with U.S. users, the company was always operating in a clearly gray area of the law, as it crossed the line into both futures trading and online gambling. Late last year it totally blocked U.S. users, as it was sued by U.S. regulators.</p>
<p>But all legal issues aside, the premise of the site was awesome, and its most vocal critics were wrong.</p>
<p>One vocal critic was Barry Ritholz, who after the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Obamacare, wrote: <strong><a href="http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2012/06/healthcare-upheld-by-scotus-intrade-blows-it-again/">InTrade Blows It Again: ACA Upheld By SCOTUS</a></strong>.</p>
<p>He posted this chart showing that right before the decision, InTrade was placing an 80 percent chance of Obamacare being ruled unconstitutional. The chart is supposedly evidence that InTrade "blew it."</p>
<p><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/513d3d7269beddf433000000-600-/health-care.png" border="0" alt="intrade health care" width="600" /></p>
<p>But Barry's argument was flawed.</p>
<p>The point of InTrade was not to be "right."</p>
<p>The point of InTrade was to create a market where popular thinking was quantified.</p>
<p>The fact of the matter is that prior to the SCOTUS ruling on Obamacare, it was clearly conventional wisdom that the law was going to be struck down. Obama's lawyers did not do well in oral arguments, and there were even rumors that the Supreme Court had decided to kill it. </p>
<p>InTrade accurately captured in a number what people thought, that Obamacare was toast.</p>
<p>InTrade was wrong, but only because conventional wisdom was wrong.</p>
<p>In Barry's post he lists a number of other times that InTrade blew it, <a href="http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2006/10/odds-of-gop-retaining-congressional-control/">such as whether or not the GOP would hold the Senate in 2006</a>. A month out traders thought it would, but in the end Democrats ultimately captured the Senate. But again, even on election night, the Democrats winning the Senate in 2006 was a big shock! Conventional wisdom is occasionally wrong.</p>
<p>The test of a market is not whether it's "right" but whether it adequately captures current information and the sentiment of informed participants. InTrade did a good job of that. Sometimes information is misleading and informed participants are on the wrong side of events, but that happens in every market in the world.</p>
<p>If a stock runs up into earnings, and then earnings suck wind, and the stock collapses after hours, do we condemn the stock market for being flawed? Of course not. It just happens sometimes that participants get things wrong, and this happened on InTrade, although really not that often.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intrade-shutting-down-2013-3" >InTrade halts trading --- ></a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intrade-halts-trading-2013-3#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/intrade-has-been-shut-down-2013-3Intrade Has Been Shut Downhttp://www.businessinsider.com/intrade-has-been-shut-down-2013-3
Sun, 10 Mar 2013 20:39:00 -0400Linette Lopez
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/50b50368eab8ea2d1700000b-400-300/screen-shot-2012-11-27-at-1.10.47-pm.jpg" border="0" alt="InTrade" width="400" height="300" /></p><p>Embattled betting website Intrade has shut down all trading, wealth.net reports.</p>
<p>The Irish company <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-cftc-is-suing-intrade-2012-11">was sued by the CFTC in November</a> for allegedly violating a 2007 agreement not to allow customers to trade commodities like oil and gold. The suit also accused Intrade of soliciting customers to buy options on future events.</p>
<p>After the suit was filed <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intrade-report-of-our-death-is-premature-2012-11">Intrade said</a> that it did not spell the end of its business in the United States.</p>
<p>Now the entire trading operation has been shut down.</p>
<p>Here's the message <a href="http://www.intrade.com/v4/home/">Intrade put on its website for customers this weekend:</a>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">With sincere regret we must inform you that due to circumstances recently discovered we must immediately cease trading activity on&nbsp;<a href="http://www.intrade.com/">www.intrade.com</a>.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">These circumstances require immediate further investigation, and may include financial irregularities which in accordance with Irish law oblige the directors to take the following actions:</p>
<ul style="padding-left: 30px;">
<li style="padding-left: 30px;">Cease exchange trading on the website immediately.</li>
<li style="padding-left: 30px;">Settle all open positions and calculate the settled account value of all Member accounts immediately.</li>
<li style="padding-left: 30px;">Cease all banking transactions for all existing Company accounts immediately.</li>
</ul>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">During the upcoming weeks, we will investigate these circumstances further and determine the necessary course of action.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">To mitigate any further risk to members&rsquo; accounts, we have closed and settled all open contracts at fair market value as of the close of business on March 10, 2013, in accordance with the Terms and Conditions of our customers&rsquo; use of the website. You may view your account details and settled account balances by logging into the website.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">At this time and until further notice, it is not possible to make any payments to members in accordance with their settled account balance until the investigations have concluded.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">The Company will continue the maintenance and technology operations of the exchange system so that all information is preserved properly.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">We are not able to provide telephone support or live help services at this time, please contact the company by email at:&nbsp;<a href="mailto:accountservices@intrade.com">accountservices@intrade.com</a></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">We appreciate your custom and support over the years. We are committed to reporting faithfully the status of things as they are clarified and hope you will bear with us as we do all we can to resume operations as promptly as possible.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><br />Sincerely,</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">The Board of Directors of Intrade the Prediction Market Limited</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intrade-has-been-shut-down-2013-3#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/intrade-shutting-down-2013-3Betting Site InTrade Is Completely Shutting Down Tradinghttp://www.businessinsider.com/intrade-shutting-down-2013-3
Sun, 10 Mar 2013 20:22:00 -0400Joe Weisenthal
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/513d23cceab8ea2211000011-400-/intrade-6.png" border="0" alt="intrade" width="400" /></p><p>Well-known online betting site InTrade is completely shutting down trading, according to a memo posted to its site. It's unclear if it will ever open again, as the language is rather vague.</p>
<p>The news was first noticed by <a href="http://wealth.net/2013/03/10/breaking-intrade-shutdown-effective-immediately/">Wealth.net</a>.</p>
<p>The full text of the memo is pasted below the dotted line. The memo hints at restoring services eventually, although the wording is very vague.</p>
<p>The Ireland-based InTrade was always controversial and popular during election season, as it allowed betters to gamble on various political outcomes (and other event-based outcomes).</p>
<p>Last November, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intrade-us-residents-should-close-accounts-2012-11">the site was sued by the U.S. regulator the CFTC</a>, and the site blocked all U.S.-based users.</p>
<p>The site was controversial not only because it let users trade on real events, but also how its odds were interpreted by the press, and whether or not the "prediction markets" it specialized in actually had predictive ability.</p>
<p>One InTrade we spoke to described themselves as "mildly panicked" as they had $700 in the site, and were unable to withdraw.</p>
<p>---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p>
<p>With sincere regret we must inform you that due to circumstances recently discovered we must immediately cease trading activity on <a href="http://www.intrade.com">www.intrade.com</a>.</p>
<p>These circumstances require immediate further investigation, and may include financial irregularities which in accordance with Irish law oblige the directors to take the following actions:</p>
<ul>
<li>Cease exchange trading on the website immediately.</li>
<li>Settle all open positions and calculate the settled account value of all Member accounts immediately.</li>
<li>Cease all banking transactions for all existing Company accounts immediately.</li>
</ul>
<p>During the upcoming weeks, we will investigate these circumstances further and determine the necessary course of action.</p>
<p>To mitigate any further risk to members&rsquo; accounts, we have closed and settled all open contracts at fair market value as of the close of business on March 10, 2013, in accordance with the Terms and Conditions of our customers&rsquo; use of the website. You may view your account details and settled account balances by logging into the website.</p>
<p>At this time and until further notice, it is not possible to make any payments to members in accordance with their settled account balance until the investigations have concluded.</p>
<p>The Company will continue the maintenance and technology operations of the exchange system so that all information is preserved properly.</p>
<p>We are not able to provide telephone support or live help services at this time, please contact the company by email at: <a href="mailto:accountservices@intrade.com">accountservices@intrade.com</a></p>
<p>We appreciate your custom and support over the years. We are committed to reporting faithfully the status of things as they are clarified and hope you will bear with us as we do all we can to resume operations as promptly as possible.</p>
<p><br /> Sincerely,</p>
<p>The Board of Directors of Intrade the Prediction Market Limited</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intrade-shutting-down-2013-3#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/yes-intrade-once-had-a-contract-on-whether-intrade-would-survive-2012-11Yes, InTrade Had A Contract On Whether InTrade Would Survivehttp://www.businessinsider.com/yes-intrade-once-had-a-contract-on-whether-intrade-would-survive-2012-11
Tue, 27 Nov 2012 13:30:38 -0500Joe Weisenthal
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/4ddc0c1f4bd7c85b57140000-400-300/john-delaney-intrade.jpg?maxX=258&amp;maxY=193" border="0" alt="John Delaney Intrade" width="258" height="193" /></p><p>Given the CFTC's suit against InTrade, and the company's decision to ban US participants from using real money, there are lots of jokes about whether there was an InTrade contract on InTrade's continued existence.</p>
<p>The answer? Yes, there was.</p>
<p>The company's (since tragically deceased) founder <a href="http://delaneyintrade.blogspot.com/2008/11/futures-on-intrades-future.html">John Delaney posted on his blog in November, 2008</a>.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, now the contracts are all gone.</p>
<p>-----------------</p>
<h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="padding-left: 30px;">Futures on Intrade's Future</h3>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">These are uncertain times when we should place a premium on transparency.<br /><br />Knowing the likelihood that your customer, supplier or counterparty will be in business in a year or two is valuable information. Being able to hedge against the closure of a business that you are exposed to have risk management and wealth preservation potential.<br /><br />Intrade has always strived to list innovative markets that give maximum transparency in real-time on uncertain future events.<br /><br />We have now just listed 4 new markets on whether Intrade.com will open and operational at the end of June 09, December &rsquo;09, June &rsquo;10 and December &rsquo;10.<br /><br />The markets can be accessed <a href="http://www.intrade.com/index.jsp?request_operation=trade&amp;request_type=action&amp;selConID=659099">here&hellip;</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.intrade.com/index.jsp?request_operation=trade&amp;request_type=action&amp;selConID=659099">https://www.intrade.com/index.jsp?request_operation=trade&amp;request_type=action&amp;selConID=659099</a><br /><br />We may list additional markets on other businesses in the future.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/yes-intrade-once-had-a-contract-on-whether-intrade-would-survive-2012-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/intrade-report-of-our-death-is-premature-2012-11INTRADE: Reports Of Our Death Are Prematurehttp://www.businessinsider.com/intrade-report-of-our-death-is-premature-2012-11
Tue, 27 Nov 2012 13:17:00 -0500Sam Ro
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/50b5037beab8eae117000005-400-/intrade.jpg" border="0" alt="intrade" width="400" /></p><p>The <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-cftc-is-suing-intrade-2012-11">CFTC is suing</a> the popular betting site Intrade.&nbsp; And in the wake of this, Intrade has instructed its U.S. clients to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intrade-us-residents-should-close-accounts-2012-11">close their accounts</a>.</p>
<p>But Intrade would like to assure everyone that this isn't the end of Intrade.&nbsp; Here's the message on their <a href="http://www.intrade.com/v4/home/">homepage</a>:</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 30px;">"The Report of Intrade's death was premature"</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 30px;">We understand yesterday's announcement was met with surprise and disappointment by our US customers, but this in no way signals the end of Intrade in the US. In the near future we'll announce plans for a new exchange model that will allow legal participation from all jurisdictions - including the US. We believe this new model will further enhance Intrade's position as the leading prediction market platform for real time probabilities about future events.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">For our non-US customers, we will continue to offer real-money prediction markets. In the coming weeks and months we plan to implement a number of improvements to the Intrade website. These include expanding our market categories, adding more convenient funding options and a new and improved trading interface. We&rsquo;ll keep you posted on these initiatives as they develop.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intrade-report-of-our-death-is-premature-2012-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/intrade-us-residents-should-close-accounts-2012-11INTRADE: US Residents Should Begin Closing Down Their Accounts Immediatelyhttp://www.businessinsider.com/intrade-us-residents-should-close-accounts-2012-11
Mon, 26 Nov 2012 18:04:00 -0500Sam Ro
<p>The <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-cftc-is-suing-intrade-2012-11">CFTC is suing popular betting site Intrade</a>.&nbsp; And now Intrade is telling its customers to start shutting down their accounts.</p>
<p>From <a href="http://bb.intrade.com/intradeForum/posts/list/494911.page">Intrade</a> (via <a href="http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/betting-site-intrade-shutting-down-for-us-customers?ref=fpblg">TPM</a>):</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>ATTENTION U.S. CUSTOMERS - IMPORTANT!</strong><br />We are sorry to announce that due to legal and regulatory pressures, Intrade can no longer allow US residents to participate in our real-money prediction markets.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Unfortunately this means that all US residents must begin the process of closing down their Intrade accounts. We strongly urge you to begin this process immediately:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Step 1: Close out open predictions</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">You must close out all open predictions before 8:00am GMT (3:00am ET) on December 23, 2012. Instructions on how to close out an open prediction can be found <a href="https://intrade.zendesk.com/forums/21372047-buying-and-selling-shares">HERE</a>.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">If this is not done then by the deadline noted above, Intrade will close out your predictions for you at what we consider to be fair market value as of the daily session close of December 23, 2012.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Fair market value will be determined using current and historical price information, including daily close prices and recent trades. Values will be set at the absolute discretion of Intrade and will not be open for review, discussion or argument &ndash; our determination of fair market value is final.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Step 2: Withdraw funds</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Please note, no customers will be charged the $4.99 monthly fee due on December 1, 2012.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Members have until December 31, 2012, to withdraw all funds from their account. Instructions on how to request a withdrawal can be found <a href="https://intrade.zendesk.com/entries/22121132-how-do-i-withdraw-funds-from-my-account">HERE</a>.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">To help you receive your funds as quickly and easily as possible, the $20 fee normally charged by Intrade for processing a bank wire withdrawal will be waived. Please be aware however that any fees charged by the sending and receiving bank, plus any intermediary bank the transfer is routed through will NOT be refunded by Intrade.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">We understand this announcement may come as a surprise and a disappointment to our US customers, but this in no way signals the end of Intrade in the US. In the near future we&rsquo;ll announce plans for a new exchange model that will allow legal participation from all jurisdictions &ndash; including the US. We believe this new model will further enhance Intrade position as the leading prediction market platform for real time probabilities about future events. We would like to sincerely thank our US customers for their custom, support and loyalty over the years.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">For our non-US customers, we will continue to offer real-money prediction markets. In the coming weeks and months we plan to implement a number of improvements to the Intrade website. These include expanding our market categories to include sports, adding more convenient funding options and a new and improved trading interface. We&rsquo;ll keep you posted on these initiatives as they develop.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at November 26, 2012 20:53:16 UTC<br />-----------------------------------<br />To protect yourself from identity theft never give out your Intrade login or password.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intrade-us-residents-should-close-accounts-2012-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/the-cftc-is-suing-intrade-2012-11The CFTC Is Suing Intradehttp://www.businessinsider.com/the-cftc-is-suing-intrade-2012-11
Mon, 26 Nov 2012 11:28:00 -0500Linette Lopez
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/50b398156bb3f75e6b00001e/intrade4x3.jpg" border="0" alt="intrade_4x3" /></p><p>The Commodities Futures Trading Commission is suing Intrade, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/26/us-cftc-intrade-idUSBRE8AP0P220121126">Reuters reports.</a></p>
<p>The suit was filed in D.C. this morning, and alleges that, since 2007, the Ireland based company is violating a 2005 agreement not to offer trades on commodities like gold and oil.</p>
<p>The CFT also accuses Intrade of soliciting retail customers to buy options on future events &mdash; Another violation of their 2005 agreement, which was made, because the CFTC accused Intrade of violating these same rules.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/pr6423-12">Here's the CFTC release:</a></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>Washington, DC</strong> &ndash; The U.S. <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/commodity-futures-trading-commission">Commodity Futures Trading Commission</a> (CFTC) today filed a civil complaint in federal district court in Washington, DC, charging <strong>Intrade The Prediction Market Limited</strong> (Intrade) and <strong>Trade Exchange Network Limited</strong> (TEN), <strong>Irish companies based in Dublin, Ireland, with offering commodity option contracts to U.S. customers for trading, as well as soliciting, accepting, and confirming the execution of orders from U.S. customers, all in violation of the CFTC&rsquo;s ban on off-exchange options trading.</strong> The CFTC&rsquo;s complaint also charges Intrade and TEN with making false statements concerning their options trading website in documents filed with the CFTC, and charges TEN with violating a 2005 CFTC cease and desist order (see CFTC Press Release <a href="http://www.cftc.gov/opa/enf05/opa5124-05.htm" target="_top"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">5124-05</span></a>, October 4, 2005).</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Intrade and TEN jointly operate an online &ldquo;prediction market&rdquo; trading website, through which customers buy or sell binary options which allow them to predict (&ldquo;yes&rdquo; or &ldquo;no&rdquo;) whether a specific future event will occur, according to the CFTC&rsquo;s complaint.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Specifically, according to the complaint, from September 2007 to June 25, 2012, Intrade and TEN operated an online &ldquo;prediction market&rdquo; trading website, which allowed U.S. customers to trade options products prohibited by the CFTC&rsquo;s ban on off-exchange options trading. Through the website, Intrade and TEN allegedly unlawfully solicited and permitted U.S. customers to buy and sell options predicting whether specific future events would occur, including whether certain U.S. economic numbers or the prices of gold and currencies would reach a certain level by a certain future date, and whether specific acts of war would occur by a certain future date.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>The CFTC&rsquo;s complaint also charges Intrade and TEN with knowingly filing false &ldquo;Annual Certification&rdquo; forms with the CFTC stating that Intrade limited its options offerings to eligible market participants. Contrary to these representations, the complaint alleges that Intrade unlawfully solicited and permitted retail U.S. customers to buy and sell off-exchange options on the website.</strong></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">In addition, the complaint alleges that TEN violated an order issued by the CFTC in 2005 that found that TEN had previously engaged in similar conduct and ordered TEN to cease and desist from violating the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations, as charged.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">David Meister, the Director of the CFTC&rsquo;s Division of Enforcement, stated: &ldquo;It is against the law to solicit U.S. persons to buy and sell commodity options, even if they are called &lsquo;prediction&rsquo; contracts, unless they are listed for trading and traded on a CFTC-registered exchange or unless legally exempt. The requirement for on-exchange trading is important for a number of reasons, including that it enables the CFTC to police market activity and protect market integrity. Today&rsquo;s action should make it clear that we will intervene in the &lsquo;prediction&rsquo; markets, wherever they may be based, when their U.S. activities violate the Commodity Exchange Act or the CFTC&rsquo;s regulations.&rdquo;</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">In its continuing litigation the CFTC seeks civil monetary penalties, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, and permanent injunctions against further violations of federal commodities law, as charged, among other relief.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">The CFTC acknowledges the Central <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/bank-of-ireland">Bank of Ireland</a> for its assistance in the CFTC&rsquo;s investigation of Intrade and TEN.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">CFTC Division of Enforcement staff members responsible for this case are Kathleen Banar, David Slovick, Jessica Harris, Erica Bodin, Girum Tesfaye, Elizabeth Padgett, Rick Glaser, and Richard Wagner.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-cftc-is-suing-intrade-2012-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/who-intrade-says-is-winning-the-election-2012-11OBAMA SURGES TO OVER 96% ON INTRADEhttp://www.businessinsider.com/who-intrade-says-is-winning-the-election-2012-11
Tue, 06 Nov 2012 23:05:00 -0500Joe Weisenthal
<p>In early going, Obama is doing decently on InTrade.</p>
<p>This is a good night for Obama. He's been bouncing all night, but after being in the mid-60s earlier, he's now near 96.</p>
<p>We'll be updating this post LIVE. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/election-results-2012-11">Full coverage of the night here &gt;</a></p>
<p><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5099deca69bedd2151000005-1175-829/image.jpg?maxX=892&amp;maxY=629" border="0" alt="image" width="892" height="629" /></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/who-intrade-says-is-winning-the-election-2012-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/betfair-vs-intrade-2012-11Trader Tells Us Why He Prefers Betfair To Intradehttp://www.businessinsider.com/betfair-vs-intrade-2012-11
Tue, 06 Nov 2012 12:31:00 -0500Julia La Roche
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5085db7469bedd682200001c-400-300/obama-romney-debate.jpg" border="0" alt="Obama Romney debate" /></p><p>We all know traders like to use <a href="http://www.intrade.com/v4/misc/scoreboard/">InTrade</a> when gauging the outcome of the presidential election, but some traders, who might also consider themselves professional speculators, will also be watching <a href="http://sports.betfair.com/politics/market?id=1.21311313&amp;origin=POD">Betfair</a>.&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/betfair" class="hidden_link">Betfair</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betfair">the world's largest Internet betting exchange</a> based in the U.K.,&nbsp;<span>allows people to bet as events unfold on a play-by-play basis.</span></p>
<p>We asked one trader who told why he prefers Betfair to InTrade.&nbsp;</p>
<p>"When you compare the two sites, Betfair's liquidity and real time technology make it a superior tool in assessing the pulse of the election," the trader said, adding, "And the more liquidity a market has, the more efficient it is. &nbsp;You always want to be trading at the market with the most liquidity."&nbsp;</p>
<p><span>To be clear, the trader we spoke to is not betting there. &nbsp;He's simply using it as a means to assess the market. &nbsp;</span></p>
<p>That being said, the trader told us he thinks it's "the best real-time assessment of who is going to win the election."</p>
<p><span>Right now, the site shows Obama is the odds-on favorite, but the odds are constantly changing.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span><span>When we last checked the pricing, Obama was listed at 1.25</span>, which means you make 25 cents for every dollar you bet on Obama.</span></p>
<p><span>Meanwhile, Romney is paying +4.8 when we last checked, which means if I give you a dollar, I get back a net profit of 3.8 dollars as of this very moment.</span></p>
<p><span>Again, these odds are constantly changing. &nbsp;<span>So far, over $32 million has been wagered on Betfair.&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>"This will be particularly important later on in the day when polls begin to tally results and the betting markets can be one of the fastest places this information is reflected," the trader added.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/betfair-vs-intrade-2012-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-has-had-a-huge-surge-on-intrade-today-and-is-nearly-back-at-70-2012-10Obama Had A HUGE Surge On InTrade Today, And Is Nearly Back At 70%http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-has-had-a-huge-surge-on-intrade-today-and-is-nearly-back-at-70-2012-10
Wed, 31 Oct 2012 19:35:00 -0400Joe Weisenthal
<p>Wow. Huge day on InTrade for Obama.</p>
<p>Some <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/wisconsin-poll-obama-romney-marquette-paul-ryan-2012-10">good swing state polls</a> + <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-christie-sandy-photo-2012-10">good headlines with him and Chris Christie</a> = nearly 70% chance of winning.</p>
<p><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/5091b5a26bb3f7aa18000007-800-599/iamge.png" border="0" alt="iamge" /></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-has-had-a-huge-surge-on-intrade-today-and-is-nearly-back-at-70-2012-10#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-surges-past-65-on-intrade-2012-10Obama Surges Past 65% On InTradehttp://www.businessinsider.com/obama-surges-past-65-on-intrade-2012-10
Wed, 31 Oct 2012 10:36:14 -0400Joe Weisenthal
<p>A possible Hurricane Sandy effect?</p>
<p>Obama surges past 65% on InTrade.</p>
<p><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5091371c6bb3f7372d000000-800-600/image.png" border="0" alt="image" /></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-surges-past-65-on-intrade-2012-10#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/second-obama-intrade-crash-2012-10Another Obama InTrade Crashhttp://www.businessinsider.com/second-obama-intrade-crash-2012-10
Wed, 24 Oct 2012 04:31:00 -0400Joe Weisenthal
<p>Yesterday morning, a few hours after the debate, Obama crashed on InTrade, from around 61 to 57.</p>
<p>Last night? Another one. He briefly crashed to 51, before stabilizing where he is now in the mid-50s.</p>
<p><a href="http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2012/10/intrade-manipulation-fail.html">There is some talk that there was some speculative manipulation attack</a>. Who knows. But for people who keep score on this, Obama is dropping like a stone.</p>
<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5087a7246bb3f7f71e000014-800-600/image.png" border="0" alt="image" /></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/second-obama-intrade-crash-2012-10#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/barack-obama-intrade-57-2012-10TODAY'S REAL CRASH: BARACK OBAMA IS CRASHING ON INTRADEhttp://www.businessinsider.com/barack-obama-intrade-57-2012-10
Tue, 23 Oct 2012 10:11:00 -0400Joe Weisenthal
<p>Along with the market being down... Obama down to 57.</p>
<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5086a558eab8ea863d000016-800-599/image.jpg" border="0" alt="image" /></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/barack-obama-intrade-57-2012-10#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/intrade-reaction-to-presidential-debate-2012-10Obama Is Already Rallying On InTrade During Presidential Debatehttp://www.businessinsider.com/intrade-reaction-to-presidential-debate-2012-10
Tue, 16 Oct 2012 21:24:11 -0400Joe Weisenthal
<p>Higher!</p>
<p><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/507e089aecad044131000003-800-600/image.jpg" border="0" alt="image" /></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intrade-reaction-to-presidential-debate-2012-10#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p>